The benefits are many. The cons are few and far between

The only people that lose out if cars are sold directly to consumers are dealership principals. Sales associates, mechanics...Those groups go to work at whatever type of place opens.

For example: Darrell Waltrip Honda. His employees will lose nothing. Waltrip, if Honda follows suit, loses a potentially lucrative business model. He's CEO of course, working for Honda would probably drop him down a bit in salary.So here's about how it works now:

A. Manufacturer produces cars.B. Dealerships and dealer networks buy the cars(THIS figure is where manufacturers get their sales from).C. Dealerships now sell these cars, financing, option packages, and used cars, to consumers.

Tesla's model skips the buying in step B. Tesla produces the car, ships it to its facilities, and it is directly purchased from Tesla. It's also likely Tesla could work with banks and other loan sources to help consumers finance their vehicles too. Since they aren't reselling the car, there's no real profit margin to fill. The car costs $50K, the loan is tacks on an extra 5-8K in interest. A dealer may have used this up in transportation, advertising, purchases/changes needed to stay compliant for the manufacturer's customer approval or marketing, etc. They need the extra few % points in interest to cover typical middleman overhead costs. Tesla doesn't.

.Product specialists, mechanics, etc, will simply deposit their checks written from Tesla. It may not be on the typical commissioned or even salaried car sales system, but pending incentives and actualized pay, I'm willing to bet Tesla associates will make something close to their local peers. Otherwise they wouldn't have much reason to jump ship.

Like any middle-man, the fear is that they can't create any more profits. When you can do in-house financing, up-sell on option packages( remember, MSRP is Manufacturers' SUGGESTED Retail Price. Dealers can go under or ABOVE, to grow the profit-margin)

Please take note that the main force voicing concerns here are dealerships and dealer associations, as well as their connected friends( politicians, 3rd party journalists, and others that have personal friendships or business deals)

These dealers want Tesla to need them, because they both:Want to sell TeslasandDon't want their manufacturers to ditch them after Tesla sets the legal and social precedent in manufacturer to buyer/driver sales.

*Realistically, I see manufacturers taking over dealerships, and making those lots manufacturer owned. Their high volume sales and traffic makes the shopping-mall space a tougher option for companies like Ford, Chevy, Toyota, etc. Smaller companies with fewer sales, perhaps Subaru and Mazda, could pull it off, but they too would have established dealer lots they could simply bring in-house..

Yes they should

They should because we need more cars like what tesla sells. It would be a lot beter if they could just sell the cars right to us so that we dont need to go and buy it from a dealler and get riped off, because all of the dealers just ripe us off and we end up paying more.

Yes I agree, selling cars directly should be legal

I believe that selling cars directly to consumers should be legal. We all are in this world trying to get through and survive, and the Fact is we all need to make money. Tesla should be able to sell those cars To make a living for herself, we should be able to sell anything beside certain weapons, or any kind of Drugs. I believe in freedom, and of trying to get by in this world.

Yes, Tesla should be allowed to sell cars directly to consumers.

Why is Tesla different from any of the other big car manufacturers ? Because their car is cooler ? More Efficient ? More environmentally friendly ? I don't think so. Tesla is one of the leading manufacturers of everyday long distance, high performance electric cars. They should be allowed to sell directly to me and you (If I could afford that beautiful sexy beast of a car), just like the rest. Do we not want them to succeed even more than they already are? I say let Tesla sell as many of these things as they can and let's applaud them for making such an excellent product.

would it be cheaper?

If it would be cheaper to the public, then heck yes! I need a new car, I just can't afford it because I just bought a used one. Yea that used one has a bad transmission. Yay. Unfortunately, I bought it from my great grandmother so I am just kinda stuck with it.

Yes, Tesla should be free to sell directly to the consumer

All innovation is meant to deliver better value to the customer for every dollar they spend. If your value per dollar is significantly better than the competitor, you will generally win the customer to your brand. Tesla is trying to disrupt the industry, and bring a new distribution system to the consumer, which will ultimately drive down car prices. This is a positive for the consumer and should be allowed.

A car needs a dealer network.

Almost every other brand of car is sold by dealers who have franchises. Behind the showroom is a repair shop with mechanics who are experts at fixing that type of car. There is also a parts department stocked with parts needed to maintain cars of that brand. The dealers mark-up makes the price higher, but in return the dealer provides services that allow a car to acquire a good reputation for reliability and durability.